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a penny for your thoughts?

well I am not making any money but am going to give my opinion anyways....

I watched bryan's end of season press conferences a few times now and have had time to digest it. one thing I want to address was his thoughts about lowery. I do not at all think this point guard is the future for this team, now bryan didnt say he thinks that either but what he did say was that he seen improvement, I didnt. from what I seen in houston and what I seen from him in toronto he physically had digressed, his basketball IQ I think is avg, his defense is just above calderon, he doesn't have a consistent 3 point shoot which we need if rudy and demar are on the floor together.

there is the rule of thumb you want 2 players on the floor that can hit the 3 on offenses at all times to space the floor that can come from ideally the 1 and 2 spot (demar can't hit 3's), the 1 and 3 spot (rudy is not a 3 point shooter), the 2 and 3 spot ( look at the spurs) and the unconventional ( 1 and 4 spot or 2 and 4 spot) we have bargani ( i said he was injury prone 2 years ago and got hit up for it).

lowery does not posses the skill set to be a starting point guard on a championship contenting team. the starting point MOST have these 3 skills ( i stress most). hit the open 3 to prevent double teams on players in the low post, create shots for others ( this doesnt have to be ankle break cross over followed by a insane behind the back pass, just get the rock to the right place at the right time for one of your teammates to have a open look. last but not least play defense.The only skill he has a chance to excel at is number 3 play defense.

I also think he is a west coast GM ehere run and gun is the style he wants well toronto is on the east coast and east coast ballasketballl is walk the ball up the floor and pound your face off and if you try and run up and down the court every man on the team is going to put a hit on you to slow you down. chip kelly has a amazing quote "big people beat up litlle people"

but he also blatantly made shit up, like lowry isn't capable of making 3 points shots.

Yep...

Also talking of him physically deteriorating from Houston to Toronto....Well, he had a bacterial infection last year (worse than a minor injury because YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU'RE THAT SICK). And he had some minor issues this year. I thought he looked really good physically in the last month or so this season. He had that burst which he showed pre-illness in Houston. Both his offense and defense were noticeably better because of it. So I don't think there's actually any real deterioration, just a couple of up and down years. Still no major injury anywhere to worry about. *knocks on wood*

Also talking of him physically deteriorating from Houston to Toronto....Well, he had a bacterial infection last year (worse than a minor injury because YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING WHEN YOU'RE THAT SICK). And he had some minor issues this year. I thought he looked really good physically in the last month or so this season. He had that burst which he showed pre-illness in Houston. Both his offense and defense were noticeably better because of it. So I don't think there's actually any real deterioration, just a couple of up and down years. Still no major injury anywhere to worry about. *knocks on wood*

So he had one month out of five where he physically looked right (according to you) and that isn't a sign of physical deterioration? Not trying to stir the pot needlessly, I just think we need to be realistic here. He missed games this year with back spasms, a sprained ankle and a torn triceps muscle, and was limited in plenty of others from the same ailments. He also missed most of the preseason because of a fourth injury (strained adductor)...

anyways some of the points guard people listed have the skill set I listed minus jason kidd who didn't get the 3 point shot till late in his career.

watch the games people I am sure nba tv is showing replays. lowry pick and roll I.Q is terrible. there is a huge difference between calderon and lowry on offense everyone can see it. I am not a numbers guy but I am sure the numbers will show amirs numbers dropping way off.

in the press conference bryan himself said lowry wasnt physically there in fact he said it a number of times which backed what I was seeing when i was watching the games.

anyways some of the points guard people listed have the skill set I listed minus jason kidd who didn't get the 3 point shot till late in his career.

watch the games people I am sure nba tv is showing replays. lowry pick and roll I.Q is terrible. there is a huge difference between calderon and lowry on offense everyone can see it. I am not a numbers guy but I am sure the numbers will show amirs numbers dropping way off.

in the press conference bryan himself said lowry wasnt physically there in fact he said it a number of times which backed what I was seeing when i was watching the games.

anyways some of the points guard people listed have the skill set I listed minus jason kidd who didn't get the 3 point shot till late in his career.

watch the games people I am sure nba tv is showing replays. lowry pick and roll I.Q is terrible. there is a huge difference between calderon and lowry on offense everyone can see it. I am not a numbers guy but I am sure the numbers will show amirs numbers dropping way off.

in the press conference bryan himself said lowry wasnt physically there in fact he said it a number of times which backed what I was seeing when i was watching the games.

Using an all-star game split Amir's offensive numbers did drop, although not necessarily significantly. Accounting for the minutes difference (all equalized for 32 minutes):

Pts dropped approx 0.6 per game, fg% was almost identical, assists dropped 0.4 per game. However, FTAs dropped approx 1 per game, TOs increased 0.2 per game and OREB dropped 0.5 per game.

I'm not sure how much Assists, TOs and OREBs could be attributed to Lowry vs Jose (thought I'd add all offensive related numbers for reference), but the rest arguably could. Aside from the significant drop in FTA, the rest isn't necessarily much of a change but definetely an across the board drop (assuming I calculated everything properly ofcourse).

Sure, Lowry doesn't have the skill set to be a starting PG on a championship calibre team. However, as you can plainly seen, this team is NOT a championship calibre team. He is part of a rebuilding process currently.

You also said Lowry isn't able to hit the open three, which is completely false. He's one of our most reliable 3pt shooters...if not our only.

This is the same type of shit people would say about guys like Avery Johnson and Chauncey Billups.....

And not to mention how many shitty PGs have been on good teams...For example Derek Fisher is not a better player than Lowry in any way, even leadership (a guy who has twice quit on a team to seek a better situation is not a good leader in my books...it's easy to lead in a good situation). There have been plenty of PGs who basically just bring one or two skills to the table, which then are used properly in a team concept to help accomplish the goal of winning a championship.

Can a Lowry-led team win a championship? Maybe...it depends on more than just him.

Bryan's end of season press conference comments about Lowry caught my attention too. For one you'd have to see Bryan's concern and on the other Lowry IMO hasn't got a fair chance. Yes he started every post Calderon game but was never allowed to play his natural game. It seemed like Casey demanded an exact Calderon(pass first) from Lowry. I'm not saying that Lowry will become a great starting PG in the NBA but considering he played a style that didn't come naturally to him, he did a pretty good job.

Two things that stand out about him are rebounding and fearlessness. I think Toronto will be wise to lock him up if they're able to do it for a good price. I say this because I think it's a safe move meaning even if he's not working out, he'll be an easy and good piece to trade. PG's are in demand all the time.